12 Kansas Academy of Science. 



lection to sustain it. Tlieir peculiar habits are evidently the great cause of their rarity, 

 and once understood, I am positive they will become quite common. Their geographical 

 distribution is, so far as is now known, rather limited; yet there is now no reason to 

 suppose that they will not, eventually, be found extending over a large portion of Kansas, 

 Colorado, northern Arkansas, and Arizona. 



The following is what I have learned concerning them: Nocturnal (crepuscular), 

 rarely being taken until after sunset, and occasionally in the morning. Found usually 

 along clay banks, living in holes generally made by themselves, where they find that 

 seclusion so congenial to their nature. The state of the weather affects appreciably thia 

 insect. When cold and blustery, they remain concealed, preferring a warm, balmy air; 

 occasionally, a ivarm, cloudy afternoon will entice them from their retreats, but this is 

 rarely to be expected. Like the rest of Oicindelidce, they are predaceous. They alsa 

 feed on effete matter. In many of their habits they are like Asida. 



THE WACONDA METEOKITE. 



BY PROF. G. E. PATRICK. 



Some few weeks ago, a stone of about thirteen pounds weight w;i.s placed in my handa 

 by Prof. J. S. Shearer, of the University, with a statement that it was a fragment of a 

 much larger rock, found at Waconda, Mitchell county, and with the request that I should 

 examine into its composition and nature. This I proceeded at once to do, and a very 

 brief examination convinced me that I had in hand a fragment of an aerolite {air-stone^ 

 literally), or stony meteorite; this term being included, together with two others, aero- 

 siderite and aero-siderolite, under the class title, meteorite* Its fractured surface, laid bare 

 in breaking it from the original mass, is of a light gray color, showing numerous small 

 particles of nickeliferous iron, and occasionally a nodule of troilite ( meteoric sulphide 

 of iron, Fe S.) 



Its original surface ( for the fragment under examination happened to be an outside 

 piece of the original stone) shows the characteristic black crust, the result of superficial 

 fusion. No free carbon could be detected. A small piece of the stone placed in water, 

 under the receiver of an air-pump, evolved gas quite copiously upon exhaustion ; the 

 character of this gas was not studied, but it is undoubtedly composed largely of hydrogen. 



An average fragment of the size of a hen's egg was taken for the determination of 

 specific gravity. The precaution advised by Prof. J. L. Smith was observed, namely, 

 that of freeing the stone of inclosed gases before weighing in water, by placing it, im- 

 mersed in water, under the receiver of an air-pump, and exhausting. The specific 

 gravity thus obtained was 3.49. Next the percentage amount of the nickeliferous 

 iron was determined by repeated extractions from the finely -powdered stone with a 

 magnet, the magnetic portion being in turn repeatedly jiowdered and reexhausted with 

 the magnet. 183.550 grammes of the stone treated in this way yielded 16.950 grammes; 

 that is, 9.23 per cent, of nickeliferous iron, freed from impurities as perfectly as was pos- 



*In dividing meteorites into these three groups, the distinguishing feature lies in the relative 

 amounts, and arrangement of the iron and stony material (silicates), which they contain. All contain 

 native iron, which, by the way, is almost invariably associated with nickel and cobalt. Au aerolite is a 

 meteorite composed chiefly of stony material, but containing nodules of nickeliferous iron distributed 

 through its mass. An aero-siderile is one whose bulk is composed of solid nickeliferous iron, with little 

 or no stony matter adhering. And the aero-sideroiite is an intermediate variety, of very rare occurrence, 

 in which the iron, forming a skeleton, is honey-combed in every direction by the stony portion. 



